Zoom G2

Easy enough to use. Came with many manuals in different languages. Only annoying feature is multiple process assigned to the same controls. So one knob might influence mic placement on the acoustic sims, or alter the tones of the Marshall Guvnor clone or whatever.

It is difficult to bypass the pedal because the switches are too far apart to be hit with a toe-tap. You need to step on it sideways.

I use this thing as a recording interface with my laptop and predomenantly use it to record dark ambient music, for which the reverb models are useful.

However as a guitar pedal it is not so good. Firstly it is clearly voiced to make a small practice amp with a small speaker sound good, so a lot of the patches are completely mushy with no distinction. Secondly the tracking on the harmonizer functions is completely rubbish, and typically one note out of three will be harmonized with some disgusting ringmod type overtone as the processor struggles to harmonize the notes.

Another gripe is the guitar interaction. This thing is a sound modifier, so the amp models are not as versatile as their real counterparts, and one feels that the nuances of your playing style are lost, especially in distortion voices.

The Zoom noise reduction is also pretty aggressive, and on any high setting will rapidly remove the attack on guitar notes. The 'damaged gate' noise reduction setting is second only to the 'digital fuzz' setting is sheer uselessness as it seems more to ape the sounds of a broken speaker.

Oh and if you split your guitar signal before the pedal and run the pedal and the dry signal into two amps there is a slight phase issue as the pedal has a tiny delay in processing your playing.

The drum machine is ok as a glorified metronome, but you cannot put any effects on the drums and getting the drum to guitar mix nice is impossible.

Not sure. One of the microswitches is allready a bit faulty, but then Zoom pedals are always a bad mix of stuff you stomp with your put and little switches you click with a single finger. The knobs are also prone to turning one way but jumping the results the other. So if I quickly try and reduce the delay time with the first knob I find that the first turn will reduce the time, then the second turn of the knob will actually bump the delay time back up and start decreasing the time again.

Other than that no hassles.

Not had to deal with them. If it goes badly wrong I will probably sell it or keep it at the back of a cupboard or drawer.

Meh really. It would be good for a beginner guitarist who wants to hide their technical inadequacies behind digitized versions of Van Halen's Brown Sound or some obtrusive step filter, but once you hear the effects once you quickly decide which are good (delays and reverbs) and which are useless (damaged gate, digital fuzz, sample-and-hold step filter and badly tracking harmonizer).

A multi effects pedal, inexpensive and reliable. Many, many effects and distortions, amp models, basic drum machine, etc. All of these features can be tweaked niceley using 3 knobs. I have been using zoom multi effects pedals for 10 years now and this one is the easiest to use and the most useful. I wish it was easier to bypass, but since I use mine in a footswitchable effects loop, this deosn't effect me much. All other features can be seen on their website or other reviews, but I'm happy with it.

I;m not a vintage guy. I never was. I started playing guitar in the late 90's and have been very into a modern sound. That being said, I find all if these effects to be of great quality for me. My personal favorite is the Harmonized Pitch Shifter, which works and sounds great. There are more effects on here than I'll probably ever use but this pedal makes experimenting fun.

Have had it for over a year and a half and have never had a problem.

This is cheaper that buying multiple effects pedals. While not good for people who like to use multiple effects in a song, it does give you great effects if you try to keep things simple. I love this unit and would definatly get it again if lost or stolen.

The Zoom G2 is not easy to set up for first time users, however once they 'get a feel' for it, then switching between settings is a lot easier. I would have to say that the unit is 'spoiled' by too many 'useless presets' (patches). It would be good if those could be wiped, however storing favourites seems to help you steer clear of the rubbish.

I bought the Zoom G2 to to get that Fender 65 Deluxe Reverb tone and the G2 does that nicely.

I find that the guitar tone quality is spoiled when the drum machine is running, so that seems rather disappointing.

The G2 is housed in a die-cast casing, so that inspires confidence. If it broke outside of warranty it would be a pity, but at the price they are, then a new replacement is relatively affordable.

I've never needed to call them, and don't intend to. I was able to download the PDF owner's manual from the internet, so that's good enough for me.

The G2 was something I actually stumbled across. Initially, I wanted to get that classic 65 Fender Deluxe Reverb sound, so I went to a music store and saw a Boss FDR-1 on sale. I decided to read up on it on Harmony Central and many users were disappointed with the Boss, however one guy mentioned he found the Zoom G2 to be a much better unit at doing what the Boss FDR-1 did at less than half the price of the Boss! Then I read the reviews here and bought a G2. For the price, the G2 has got some great sounds and enough of the essential effects that I'd never worry about ever buying another pedal again (famous last words maybe?).

I was running the G2 into a Fender Champion 600 Re-issue, however I recently bought a brand new Princeton Reverb Re-issue for $667US, so the Champion is just a spare amp now. Although the Princeton Reverb is a great amp, the G2's sound is still very impressive on the 'Fender Clean' setting through the Princeton. I've also got a pair of Sennheiser CX300 earphones (iPod style) and combined with the G2, you get a great sound for minimum expense.

In hindsight, I probably would have been better just buying a Roland Cube 30 and not worry about the Fender Champion & Zoom. I bought the Champion for harmonica use assuming it would be OK for guitar, but unfortunately it's not a good guitar amp. Luckily the G2 was an affordable way to get the tones & effects it has.

For those who are looking to make their own sound patches, then this website might come in handy:
http://www.haax.se/manualsite/index.php?unit=G2

Bottom line: A much cheaper alternative to the Boss FDR-1.

Very easy to use right out of the box-presets are very cool. Takes some patience to edit the right sound you want, combined with whatever amp you're working with.

I only use Gibson Les Paul's and LP types, along with Crate, Roland, and Line 6 amps. My favorite amp models on the G2 are the Marshall stacks and Mesa Boogie. With the right editing you can get killer tone from Dicky Betts to Slash.

It's a great pedal for gigging/practice and recording. I used it on a cruise ship gig out in Hawaii everyday for the summer last year, for recording and practice-you can't kill it.

Piano is my main instrument and livelihood- guitar as a second instrument for 19 years and play hard rock/metal. The G2 even sounds awesome when hooked up to a keyboard using some delay/pitch shift, etc.
I really like the built in drum machine, comes in handy for teaching and writing. Picked up the Twin Tube Mayhem awhile ago, and have been using the Zoom way more. If stolen/lost I would definitely replace it again-it rocks!

Ease of use:
When you know the pedal and have read through the instructions properly it is easy to use. It features a small amount of buttons and knobs which can do a lot of different things.

The manual:
It has it all in there and it explains stuff quite easily, it has a combination of explainations and tables which are very useful.

The problem with the buttons (discussed in the reliability), if this occurs it can make it hard to use.

Rating:
It gets a 7 as it can be easy to use and is well laid out.

There are a lot of different sounds and many combinations that a user can make using all the effects. When setup properly you can make some decent sounds (which you can save as presets) which can comparable with expensive equipment (when used with a decent amp and an EQ).

Distortion:
There is a range of different distortions to choose from, some of them are pretty good but the majority of them sound to digital and 'fuzzy'. Which isn't sound many people are looking for.

Clean:
Again with a decent setup you can have some nice clean tones which sound equally good with reverb or mild chorus. Some of the clean tones are borderline disortion and dont sound brilliant.

Effects:
There are a large number of different effects to choose from and some of them are quite fun. In reality you are only likely to use few of them but you can vary each the characteristics of effect considerably which is useful.

Drum Machine:
The pedal incorparates a simple drum machine, with 30 different beats to choose from and variable timing it can be useful for keeping in time and practising.

Why an 8 rating then?
A rating of 8 high but it gets this it is able to produce decent sounds but only when setup and you siff through most of the effects and distortions.

As seen with many other zoom products of this nature, build quality can lack in important areas. With the G2 it is the 2 main buttons, the change up and down buttons which are required for changing through distortions/effects stored on the pedal.

The two buttons can stick, as in they they only change when they want to which can be very annoying and embarrasing when performing. This tends to happen after prolonged use, not neccesarily abuse to the pedal but through every day use. This deosn't go for all G2 pedals.

However the casing quite ruggid, its solid and has rubber pads to improve its ruggidness and has metal control knobs. Some plastic parts make up the pedal but its still quite strong.

Why a rating of 6?
Overall package is ruggid but the button problem unfortunately lets it down as it could be a serious problem when gigging.

I have had no experience with zoom about this product.

Who would I recomend this pedal to?

Beginners to advanced players who require a number of different effects and sound chanels who does the occasional gig. If you are gigging a lot or have more money to spend I recomend using a boss product.

Features I would improve:
I would improve some of the distortion sounds to make them sound less digital and more analogue. Replace the buttons with better designed switches.

Overall:
The zoom G2 effects/sounds need to be setup properly and you need to learn how to use all of its fucntions. Once you have come to terms with it is a good product and very good value for money when you compare it with other pedals for the price. The down fall is the button problem, however this wont happen to all G2s. You just might be unlucky.

I tend to play speed metal and classical style music on clean sounds. Although I play speed metal I tend to use a mild distortion with a small amount of hall delay which gives a nice clear and precise tone. I run the guitar into the pedal then into a seperate 8 chanel EQ which really helps bring out the sound I want and then run it into a crystal clear 70 watt speaker system or a 500 watt system.

Despite some of the flaws, when you have learned the pedal and produced your own sounds it is a good pedal. I would Recomend taking a look at the Zoom G2.1 which features a dynamic pedal as well as the two main buttons you get. The G2.1 is about 40 pounds more though and for that price you can buy a lot of other pedals. I would certainly recomend the G2 though for the money!

Any questions, please email me: oliverjenner@gmail.com

This unit is about the easiest you'll find to operate in regards to the number of effects and amount of parameter controls. A novice/beginner would surely need a couple months to become competent so I'd say it's more of an intermediate level.

I've owned a dozen processors, some of which are very complex. While this unit was incredibly easy for me to use, mastering it sadly took a few years for the simple fact that, getting usable tones from EVERY am/distortion model requires some odd EQ parameters.

I found I could get any tone style I wanted from all distortions, it just sometimes required using a lot of negative values in both EQ modules.

Modulation and time based effects are of course a no brainer. Over time you'll certainly refine patches but it's pretty easy to get a good sound from them on your initial programming.

It's a more basic unit but still doesn't qualify as a beginner's. The G1 is a very basic and fairly limited beginners unit.

The sound quality is outstanding.
It takes quite a while to really master getting the distortions smooth and refined as opposed to sharp and grainy. I appreciate both distortion tones and fortunately the unit does an excellent job of both.

The dual EQ modules are crucial for nailing sought after tones. It's also incredibly important to use the compression and bS(boost) modules to overdrive the distortion module. With these maxed, you can set your distortion at 30 while having a very clean, noiseless distortion thus eliminating the need for the noise gate.

The boost module has a tone effect ranging from 1-5. 1 gives you a thick, rounded tone, 5 gives you a slightly thin, midzy tone and an intermodulation effect desired by most players. It functions much like a tube screamer overdriving an amp.

The modulation effects are extremely close to analog. When you get the mix ratio and feedback balanced out, they give a very analog feel but of course it's not QUITE the same. That being said, it still manages to perform without the effects mutilating your notes in swirling digital goop.

The reverb and delays are great but definitely don't pass for analog. They sound great, you can get a really good blend and balance but one major issue is when you use the drum machine module, the reverb turns off. This means relying on the delay module for adding time depth.

You'll find that ultimately the way to get a smooth, fuzz like distortion that can still give metal shred is using the distortion tone control, the boost tone control and both EQ modules treble settings all in conjunction. Generally dropping the main EQ's treble to negative settings then balancing out the other 4 in relation to one another does the trick.
Some distortion modules require all the treble settings to drop into the negative values to sound good but, it enables every distortion to deliver a scooped tone, a midrange driven tone, a flat tone etc.

I beat the **** out of my first G2, it still works.
To my dismay however, it can't be powered off batteries which I've never been able to make sense of.

For that reason alone, it's of course not earning a 10.

I'd like to get the battery issue resolved but, I'm sure the cost would make it rather pointless.
Maybe they'll help me trouble shoot since I'm a competent hobbiest tech and could identify and replace the dead components but it's rare a company will do this when a repair would put money in their pocket

I've posted a couple other reviews but thought maybe this one would help users understand the versatility of the unit when the EQ's are manipulated properly and the compression and boost modules are used to overdrive the distortion module.
Some of my patches have been fundamentally the same but tweaked periodically over the last 2-3 years until reaching ultimate perfection as well as a better understanding of the unit and just how deep it's abilities actually run.

I've used the more extensive Zoom G tube models but found they were extreme overkill. Far too many modules and far too many parameter options. You will literally spend a decade perfecting patches on them thus making the units useless in many respects. My advice is stick to the G2, even if you have all the money in the world to spend.

In comparison to the competition, the only brand that can compare and compete is Line6. My Pocket POD gives some very round and smooth distortions with a richness associated with tubes but the G2 still exceeds it in countless ways. The POD also isn't as easy to use due to the interface having a limited amount of buttons.

Ultimately this is probably the best unit on the market even with the competition cranking out new designs a few times a year.

I prefer to run the unit on the clean channel of an amp with the eq of the amp set for slightly above flat frequency response. It can be used to overdrive an amps distortion but you'll find it introduces some white noise which is typical of all digital distortions when used this way. Currently it runs through my Ashdown Mini Stack and my Crate V33H all tube head. Oh and when I feel the need, I have the beat up G2 that lives in my car which I jack into the axillary input of my stereo so I'm never without when out on the road.

I own two G2's and will probably snag a third when I find one on Ebay for a bargain price. Stolen, destroyed or whatever, I'd replace it within a few days. The G2.1 is great with it's USB, expression pedal and Cubase software HOWEVER, an external, analog expression pedal plugged into the G2 allows for more range of movement. The foot pedal on the 2.1 doesn't have much range which is consistent with most units equipped with a built in expression pedal.

I'm not a salesman and typically oppose brand loyalty.
The bottom line is that this model performs extremely well and is as close to the real thing as you can get from units of this type.

The unit is really easy to use and modify/create presets. Most of the pre-programmed patches are not useful at all, but the manual is clear and easy to follow, even for newbies.

I am using it with a 2007 Ibanez GRG270 with a DiMarzio DP200 bridge pickup, modified for series/parallel and a 1979 Giannini Supersonic with individual phase switches for the pickups (a copy of the Fender Jazzmaster with 3 strat-like pickups). The G2 is really quiet, and its noise gate works like a dream, as well as the effects. The 5-second delay is really good. The chorus has a stereo option, and the other effects, like the flanger, phaser, wah and the equalizer work really well, and accept complex configurations. The pitch shifter could be better sounding, for the pedal pitch (altering the fundamental) makes the original sound of the guitar quite strange (badly distorted), unlike a Digitech Whammy (which costs lots more...). The distortions are accurate and some are very intense. The emulations, such as the OD-1 and the Fuzz Face are just like the original ones, only a bit better because we can enhance them...

I play Rush, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Scorpions, Deep Purple and David Gilmour songs, and it is easy to reach the sounds I want, even using a transistor amp (125W RMS).

The unit looks very sturdy, and seems to endure a lot of hard work. I would use it to play live, but I would carry a lesser distortion pedal, just in case (I am a careful person), or another older Zoom 505II I have.

Once I had to repair my 505, and the folks at Zoom Japan were very helpful and friendly. For the G2, they even gave hints on how to build an expression pedal, something I had never seen before.

I am a vintage guitar player, over 34 years on the road, and I like to play hard rock, progressive, heavy metal and ballads. I also have some other old pedals, like the Ibanez Standard Fuzz, Sound ES2 Wah, Boss Turbo Overdrive, Giannini Super Fuzz, a Tube Screamer clone and some other distortion and compression pedals I built myself.

I liked the unit very much, but Zoom could work a little more on the pedal pitch. Were it lost or stolen, I would definitely buy another, maybe with a built-in expression pedal.

I have been using Zoom pedals for about 10 years now and this is by far the easiest I have ever had. I consider myself a musician of simpke tastes and this pedal is more than enough to keep me satisfied. I really don't use the amp modeling except when maybe recording some riffs to a recorder, and the drum samples and metronome are an awsome tool to have, really everything I need, but if you don't have an FX loop, I can't see you using this live.

I find the FX very easy to use and plentiful in range and diversity. I have been almost always been able to dial in the sound I want and they always sound great. I usually set a specific patch for a song and just hit the FX loop on my head when i need the effect. I used to use it with a Marshall TSL 100 but I have since upgraded to a MESA Trip Recto....the interfacing with the marshall was much easier but the result nwas ultimatley the same, awsome effects sounding great, I really have no complaints here.

This is the most well built of all the Zoom's I've played. Hasn't given me any problems and I don't see it doing so.

Haven't need them.

It really is great for what I do, and for the price i paid and how I use it...it is pricless and resourcful. I would get another one immediatly if it were lost or stolen. This little wonder probaly exposed me to so many effects at a fraction of the cost...thank you zoom.

the operation manual is there for a reason. if you dont read through it then your stupid. the knobs are very intuitive and editing patches are as easy as a flick of a switch.

i plug this pedal through a dean P series VX into a roland cube 15X. there is a decent amount of amp models and effect models for gigging, recording and practice. i can get all the metal tone i want out of this thing ( Megadeth, Testament and such). afew notable amp models in this unit that i like is the Zoom extreme distortion pedal. it has really good gain. the only downside to it is that it sounds WAY to digital and fake. the feature i hate is the gate.it takes ALOT of gain out of the sound. so that definately sucks.

decent unit. i dont think i need a backup for this. its really safe.

never dealt with them yet

basically i play lots and lots of high gain metal so this unit(especially the amp and pedal models such as peavey 5150 and Extreme distortion) is very useful. if it were stolen or lost i would get the zoom g2.1 with cubase instead.

First of all lets remember this is a $99 pedal and it has limits. I think that however it is a good pedal. It's so simple to use once you look over the manual. Editing patches involves turning the correct one of three knobs and then storing. How much easier can it get. Then you can make adjustments on the fly as easy as bending over and tweaking a knob. The manual is pretty easy and resonably clear to understand. Even if you just buy this pedal for the tuner its pretty cool. It's also great for a practice amp that's battery powered with earphones so you won't disturb anyone. It has a quick and easy drum machine where you can find a beat to jam to or try out new licks or chord patterns. Not great in variety but nice sounding and easy to adjust on the fly. After you set your guitar volume you can still adjust the drums up or down without effecting your guitar volume. Slick! Weather the effects sound good or not depends on your setup and weather or not you use amp modeling and the EQ's correctly.

Distortion is always a subjective subject. I'd say you can go all the way from way too much to way to little but in the end it's always not quite right. I think this is because it isn't very touch sensitive and therefore will always sound phony and digital. If you're playing balls to the wall it can sound fine, but if you want to use a light touch it still has the same general sound.
The delays can be made to do most things most delays do especially long delays. Many of the effects are pretty interesting.

No problem yet

Never delt with zoom but generally find there products to last resonably well if care is used.

I do a lot of studio work and I use this pedal mainly to add interesting colors. Trems, delays, echo and other time based effects mainly. Also I use it a lot to practice quietly.
There are many better pedals out there but if I only had around a hundred bucks I'd buy one again. You get a lot for the money and most of it is good.

its easy... very easy.
But, if you are a TARD... then you might not be avle to use it.
It is very simple and a steal for $100. The other guitarist in my band has THOUSANDS invested in his rig. I take great pride in making him sound like dog %$@# with my $100 pedal and a $300 crate half stack.

If you can't get an amazing tone out of this pedal then you are a idiot. Most of the negative comments on here about this product are made by stpudid kids who wouldnt have a clue how to use or adjust eq or use a real effect. The bottom line is this unit is the MOST AMAZING INVENTION EVER MADE FOR THE ELECTRIC GUITAR. The new distortions and overdrives on this pedal really steps it up to the next level. You can buy one of these pedals for $100 and have every tone imaginable. This pedal makes me feel raped for buying so many effect pedal and line 6 products.
The new extreme distortion setting is exactly like a line 6 insane setting but more raw and real

My old plastic zoom 505 is over 10 years old. I cant imagine how long this one will last considering it metal contruction.

never had to use them.

As long as you have a clear load clean channel, this pedal can create every tone on the plant flawlessly. There is a reason why many music stores do not carry zoom pedal. Because if you buy this pedal, they will not see you for a long time. Because you will not have to buy anything else. IT'S 2008...TIMES HAVE CHANGED, TECHNOLOGY IS HERE, YOU DONT HAVE TO SPEND THOUSANDS FOR TONE.

It's easy to use.

A reading of the manual is advised if you have never used a multieffect before. You can download it from the support section of the Zoom website.

It has deep enough editing to provide a good amount of adjustments, ie most actual effect pedals have 3 (or 1,2,4) knobs on them. The three parameter knobs make editing quick and simple by working just like pedals would.

The display is VERY cryptic with it's two digits. A massive improvement would be to have a display which is alphanumeric and of at least 6-8 digits. I think there should also be indicator led's showing which modules are active within a patch also. Anyway, it is what it is.

Hmmmm, without sounding overly negative I really don't like the sound quality or quality of the effects. IF you had nothing else to use then this would be fine. BUT... if you own other pedals then using the G2 equivalent of that effect is a big let down. SInce I own other individual effects and have some awareness of sounds I don't like the Zoom at all for anything.

The delay's even the EC which is supposed to be warm sound bad compared to my Belcat DLY-303 Delay. The flanger is just terrible compared to my Nady FL-10 Flanger. The wah sound when using a Roland EV-5 expression pedal is just terrible compared to my Cry Baby type wah pedal with reissue fasal inductor. So you can see where I've gone with this, I can't stand the poor quality effects this has.

I can only rate it as 1 - It sounds terrible.

Web site is great, support section is great. I have emailed them about the bypass and got a pefectly helpful and informative reply. I think they have good customer support.

Ultimately this one had to go onto eBay as I just didn't like anything it did. I had owned a Zoom G2.1u a while back just after they came out. I didn't like it much but thought maybe I would try one out again. Yeah, they suck pretty badly.

Overall Rating, to me they sound like what they cost.

They look lovely and are nicely laid out and straight forward to use. Personally I was not happy with the sound quality when bypassed, so I used a true bypass box. Then the problem was I didn't like the quality of the effects themselves. There was nowhere to go from that point except back onto eBay.

Otherwise a good product, lots of things to play with for very little money. Built in a strong metal enclosure with stylish looks.

I've been playing with multi FX processors for years, this box was easy for me to set up. I did have to refer to the manual for which amp sim was which. But i punched in some basic sounds in a few hours, and tweaked them to perfection within 2 days. you can exect a big display on a cheap unit i guess. The manual was easy to read, but after 2 days playing around i didnt need to look at it.

This box ROCKS!!! its warm and sooo clean even when extremely distored. It dosent sound digital like some other gear.

I've run it though 3 setups all sound extreamly good... a Peavey bandit 80 watt combo amp. In to my mixer with the cabinet simulator turned on, and out though monitor spekers and a sub... and my fav rig.. into a Peavey 50/50 Classic stereo tube power amp and out to stereo quad boxes, this rig screams.

The amp sims and cabinet emulators sound very good, but im not an amp conisurer so i can t tell you how realistic they sound... they sound good to my ears.

The zoom extreme distorsion screams for leads and metal, one of the best distorsions I've herd. I have it set to 30% distortion for most of my stuff.. its to driven at higher levels.. maybe some slayer at 70% drive.

It has all you basic FX's + some nice stuff like zoom noise reduction, pre amp frequeny boost ( nice for extra gain on leads ect ), harmonised pitch shifter. It also has stuff i dont use like complex delays, and reverbs for a slighty different effect.

looks like a solid box.

no idea.

I paid AU$150 for this unit, rrp is about AU$250. It sounds awesome for the money...better than my 10 year old rack mount digitech gear that cost me $2500.. I got good sound punched in in an hour and tweeked within 2 days. I'm so impressed i think ill repace my rack with a G7.

If your thinking about buying one, just get it, you wont regret it. I coulnt find anything that came close for the money.

The G1 seemed to have limmited delay settings, and the extra knobs on the G2 make it dead easy to dial in sounds. Spend the extra few bucks and get the G2.

It is easy, you just have to tweak the three knobs an listen. But don't expect too much from factory presets: overprocessed, and digital. A chimp could use this unit (after reading the manual :P)

Distorsions are crap, amp and cabinet models are crap :P Pretty much the same with all multieffects for me... I only use this for modulation and delay, and sometimes some extra reverb.
I want to tell you about the way i use it, hope it helps. I am mainly a jazz guitarist, but i like to play with effects. My pedalboard looks like this: Digitech EX-7 > Line6 FM-4 > G2. The dist (which i don't use much), whammy, leslie, etc comes from the EX-7, the filter stuff for funk comes from the FM-4 and the mod (mainly chorus) and delay comes from the G2. I wish it had a separate bypass switch (like the yamaha magicstomp), to make it more like a stompbox. But it doesn't, so I've set up the programs, so i can always reach a bypass mode (everything turned off in the program) with one kick. I keep my programs on minimal, no amp, no eq (messes up with the amp eq), just one single effect usually. So my programs go like this: A0-clean(i use a bit of stereo chorus for this too), A1-effect, A2-effect, A3-clean, and so on...
So what i have is some separate stompboxes, but programably. I can use 5 different types of delays on a concert without tweaking between songs.
10 for mod, delay and reverb and 2 for distorsions = 7 altogether.

Heard some bad things... we'll see with time.

Dunno.

You shouldn't forget, that playing with effect have nothing to do with music. It's like a programer who plays on the computer occasionally.
But this is definately a killer one! The best in its category, a must have for begginers (if they need games appart from playing the guitar). More advanced guitarist should probably have a look at the magicstomp (which i'm going to buy too, if i'll have the money), same thing but a bit more complicated and avanced.

I think that the zoom g2 is very easy to use, than other multiefects. I compare the zoom g2 with the digitech rp70, and I couldn't understand how to use de digitech.
like all the multiefects units, you have to read some pages of the manual, but just doing that you can understan how to use it.

I like the zoom g2 because it has 13 distortions, and they are very good. If you are just strating on playing guitar it has a very very good souns, but if you have some years playing the guitar, you'll notice that it's not the best sound.
This multiefect is weak on the modulations and in the auto-wah, in my opi??on. But I strongly think that the zoom g2.1u is not better because of the expresion pedal, it is very expensive!!!

I think tha my zoom g2 fell over a million times, and it is still working, like the first day.
I think that the zoom g2 is better than the zoom g1, because of that. The zoom g2 has steel switchs, and they make them using steel, and the zoom g1 is made of plastic.

I did'n have any problem with it, so I don't know

I think that you can play any style of music with it, I play blues, clasical, rock, metal and jazz, and I use my zoom g2 for all of that.

I think that you can get multiefect of the same quality, but for less price, that is the only desadvantage.

Ease of use is not le gran force of any multi effect procecessors. A couple of knobst to do all the job, it is very hard to visually get a hint of the settings. Anyway, I praise zoom for their unquestionable commitment to usability, which might be a hard job in case of this product type - I've been a zoom 505, 505/II and now G2 user, and I can see that almost all my wishes have been developed, without ever contatcing them. Ok, now you can switch it off. Battery life is ******* great! This thing can be operated by four AAs for ages. I'm greatful for its massive design, in contrary to its predecessors, as well as the four analog-like knobs, instead of the plastic moskery.
I absolutelly prefer the new grouping and sequence of effects, its far more logical and usable. The fact that i have direct access to some parameters without havingt to go to editing mode. Please note these, when you buy a product, I am a product designer myself, and i know that usability features never make it to the brochuires. Anyway, there is still place for development, luckily. For G3 I need:
-absolutelly NO harcoded factory effects (they sound terrible, but thats the lesser proble, you cannot delete or edit them at all, unlike the 505)
-one more digit for the display, please, it does not require that much space. the trouible with parameter values over 100 just makes me crazy.
-the too stomp buttons are way too far - Its a drag pressing them together for mute or tune. and add that I have big foot.
-the default volume of the drum machine is way too much. in standard settings it just ruins your amp. note that it is unable to store your last setting after restart, drum volume always starts at 100%
-what else...I'd like to handle boost separatelly, maybe group with the compressors, instead of frequency manuipulators like phase/tremolo/wah
-I absolutelly HATE knobs that turn around endlessly, without the feel of maximum and minimum values.
-it wopuld be good to have a main switch for amp/phones, they require a number of patches duplicated for different settings
-please add at least an ending command for the drum machine
I could go on, but I leave some work to the, too. Its aalready great product,absolutelly 10 for usability, which is often under estimated at this category.

>setup: fenders american standard telecaster > stomp pedal board > fender performer combo for gigging OR
more teles, squiers too > G2 > earphones/mac/soundboard/combo for practice, quick rehearsing and short gigging
>NO noise as compared to stompboxes. might use its noisegate at some extreme settings, but I try to avoid it.
>some effects sound great, and some dont. greats are:
wah, phase (somehow I preferred the previous phaser controls, tough. It sounds more of a Smallstone model.) tremolo (great) delays (absolutelly great and most versatile on the market for digital. you can run 3 delays together!) equalizer (very good feature)
overdrive (yes! I DO use its round, warm overdrive at fine settings, even with amps (only with amps, in headphones they actually sound terrible, which I cannot understand. if an overdriven guitar can sound good in a walkman, why pedals never produce good OD sounds in the ear) Cabinet modeling is very useful if you play through the line.
>crap effects: all factory patches, compressor, which is a fake, any overdrive more extreme than the OD, acoustic simalator, all the amp modeling **** that I never use, funny sounding **** like ring modulators, steps, pitch shifters etc, and I never use chorus or flanger. If I play throu amp, I always use its own spring reverb.
>I cannot really produce sounds like my favourite artists (like neil young, keith richards, lou reed) who are mostly gain wizards, rather than modulators, however, it is goood to develop my own sound.

seems quite relyable, altough i already had some problems with the stomp buttons not working in one direction. they left me in trouble at a gig, but they could be fixed with some contact sray. Now the module srcoll buttons start the same. I might as well get down to fix it again, but I would not rely on it at a gig, cause anything can happen. Two early after owning it for a year or so.

never needed. I guess they have. It would be nice if the company would publish some kind of content, patch lists and tips, like one guy did for 505. these are not usable for the G2 already. it helps learning the game.

I think this is such a great product, it definitelly reaches its target., thats why I decided to write a review on it.
I'd still not use it in the studio, it is still a practice or go and gig thing, but a very handy one. a 9, which is far above the avarage

Took a little time to learn how to change settings. But worth it.

Almost all effects are cool! With an exception of acoustic simulator. But that's still okay.

No problem!

For almost any kind of music style.

considering the number of knobs you have here (not many), it's oparation is very good. it's very vestile, and as soon as you learn how to operate it all becomes pretty intuative, but again, since you have 3 knobs operate all the effects it's a steep learning curve.

i used an american delux strat and a fm65r amp.
i only got the g2 for mods delays and reverbs, and for the most they sound surprisingly good (i didn't like the way the chorus sounds for example, not very clear). nothing amazing, but it does the job very well.
i wouldn't use the amp and distortion models for gigs, but they are very nice for practice, which for the price is actually great. the same with the wha.

the thing is this unit is very verstyle once you get to know it, if you only want some good delay reverb section, i dont think you can beat it at this price range. but if you expect the amp section to do magic you might be desapointed.

well..
mine just stoped working after about a year and a half, and i don't intend to fix it. other then that it had some minor problems before.

on the bright side it's very very raggedly built.

never used it.

it's awsome for thre price. i think that besides some tech problems it's an amazing unit for the begining guitarist, and very good for practice. for gigs it's limited- it's a verstyle and a not bad at all sounding unit if you use it for the things it does good.

Read the Manual. There are so many permutations of possibilities with the different settings available, it pays to know what it is that you're modifying when you start twirling knobs and changing settings.
Takes effort to learn how to create a patch and save it, but once you get up to speed you'll be navigating around easily. Manual is reasonably helpful.

Keeping in mind that I'm running this into a solid-state amp, my experience with it says,"The more distortion you dial in, the crappier it sounds coming out of the amp". I.e. solid state sounds like solid state when it comes to distortion. The Boost setting helps. At cranked amp volumes, I found that I really had to back off on the amp modelling gain settings.
Effects are a mixed bag. I mainly use Chorus, delay, reverb, and the above mentioned Boost. Noise Reduction helpful. Flanger effect sounds processed - I avoid it. I use maybe half of the effects available and avoid the rest, but that still gives me a good palette of things to choose from.
Favourite amp model with this is the Roland JC with some extra chorus, and delay/reverb thrown in. Was disappointed with the Vox and Marshall amp models - perhaps had unrealistic expectations about getting that Marshall sound (with an Epi Les Paul).

I've had it for just under two years. Worked great for the first year. Then, as with so many other G2 users, the foot switches started to fail intermittently. I use it to play on the church music team. Now I'm looking for a replacement.

Well, it failed after the warranty expired. I may contact Zoom - the switch problems are common and I've heard that they may do warranty support even after the product is out of warranty. If I have any work done on it, I'll do it myself or enlist the help of a tech.

I play on the church music team. Musical style varies from slow to uptempo incl rock. I use a Hagstrom Viking through the G2 into a 30W solid state amp. We mic our amps and run the sound through the PA system. Whenever I get comments about my playing, I listen for comments about my tone, as hearing yourself through a stage monitor only tells you so much. Last time out I was encouraged by how warm my tone sounded, the person commenting attributed it to the fact that I was playing a semi-hollowbody. For the price, this was a great buy at the time, it has enough functionality to keep you tweaking for ages. I wish it had the ability to select the order in which effects are applied to the signal (manual describes the order in which effects are applied). Best feature about it is that I get great clean sounds from it.
Based on it's reliability, I won't be buying another G2. But I like the functionality of this thing so much, I'm pulled to getting it's cheaper sibling, the G1, hoping that Zoom hasn't engineered the same defects into it as with the G2. Even with the amp models and effects that you won't use (too processed sounding), there are still lots of features available at this price. It's a roll of the dice on reliability.

Once you program a few patches using the manual, it becomes easy to navigate on your own. I'll still pull out the manual occasionally to remind me of a few things, but for the most part, it's pretty intuitive. It's easy to get a good sound out of it, but there are plenty of ways to get a terrible sound out of it.

You can get these for under $100 brand new, and you can usually pick them up used for around $50-$70. For that price, these can't be beat. The models are very good. Do they sound like what they're emulating? Not usually, but they'll remind you of the amp they're imitating, and they sound good doing it. For example, I have a Vox AC15. The AC30 model on this thing is pretty close to the Vox vibe, though it's definitely different. The same goes for most of the models. Good sounds, although not perfect imitations. The cleans have some character, and the distortions sound nice. Some are a little iffy, but if you can't find an overdrive/distortion sound in here that you don't like, you're obnoxiously picky, and you probably won't even look at pedals that aren't overpriced boutique boxes.

I don't really like many effects, but most of the ones included are usable. Of course they aren't as good as a dedicated stomp box, but look at it this way - a Boss CH-1 costs $90... this unit cost about the same... and the chorus in here sounds just fine. I'm sure others have pointed that out, but I suppose it can't be said enough. The chorus, tremolo, and phaser are just fine. The auto wah is okay, and the flange is passable. Other effects are really just fun to mess with, but you probably won't ever use them.

It sounds great plugged into the front of an amp. I use this at home with a Fender Blues Jr. I haven't used this for gigs, as I have a different setup that I really love, but it could be used in that way as long as you don't need to switch patches too much (there are only two footswitches to cycle through patches). You can run this thing direct into a recorder and get some pretty good tones for demos. You could even use it as your guitar sound for a real recording if you want. It's no slouch. The cab simulator isn't very tweakable - there are two mic models and mic positions, but they seem to just shift the EQ center rather than change anything. Tweakable or not, the cab simulator sounds pretty good. I haven't really tried it direct to PA, but I'm sure it would work. I have the Zoom G7.ut (which I have used direct to PA), and the G2's cab simulator is identical to the one in the G7. For a headphone practice amp, this thing is great.

No problems, but this unit stays at home.

They answer their emails fairly quickly.

I've been playing all kinds of guitar music for twelve years. If you want a fun box for practice or whatever, this is it. For gigs, you may want something a little different, but this unit has the sound quality to hold up to most gigs. As I mentioned before, I've got the G7.ut, and I'm honestly more impressed with the little G2. Give it a try - you'll like it.

OK

Guitars - Jackson, Charvel, Mighty Mite project guitars
Pick up - Ibanez's INF 4 Humbucker and based on Alnico magnet
COMBO - I don't use COMBO ! Combo = Vomit, Combo is not actual for me ! You can play "IN LINE" with ZOOM's G2 "CABI & MIC" Very nice Combo's Simulator !And I even don't want to hear from old rock losers about 'combo is wauh' I'm Modern Boy and I know better ;)
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OK, NEXT, Lets talk about FX
"CABI & MIC" is fantasic as I told You !
"Noise reduction" is wauh, very satisfied
Distortion - I like "Extreme Distortion FX" and "BG Drive"
"Auto wauh" - OK ' plus - minus' I heard much better, BUT Cabinet emulation plus distortion = OK, I can make a really 'vintage hard ' and modern sound !

Reliability = OK ! processor's quality is OK !
No one bug or problem with this ZOOM, even at the dust room

I don't know, because I don't need it

I'm Electro-Rocker 'DJ&El guitar' But I Love 'Hard Rock' And 'Hard Core' too. So this very flexible processor ! just turn handles EQ and distortion level !
Price and sounds = OK !But presets = crap !!! Hey Zoom You must invite James Hatfield or Eddie Van Halen for making new normal presets ;) If they are too busy, so no problem, I can do it ;)Think about it!And Last and I.M.P.O.R.T.A.N.T. ! "CABI & MIC" ! Very nice Combo's Simulator ! Wauh ! I don't need Combo ! Combo Good Bye ! I can play "IN LINE" and it's Amazing !!!
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I love this Guitar Processor and I don't want to lose it ;)

IT'S EASY TO USE BUT BELIEVE ME!CHANGE THE EQ AND EXTRA EQ SETTINGS IT MAKES A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE

EVEN IF I PAID $300 FOR THIS IT WOULD HAVE BEEN WORTH IT.I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH ABOUT THE EQ.

VERY STURDY

YOU MUST CHANGE THE EQ AND EXTRA EQ SETTINGS TO GET GREAT SOUND AND YOU WILL IF YOU DO.

My first digital piece of equipment, I expected some hard times, but it's quite easy, though you may get a little confused when editing certain effects parameters.

I have a shitty samick guitar fitted with dimarzios, running through a lame brazilian made small cube (warm music, stay the fuck away from it). I'm not really a fx guy, so I can't say much about delays and reverbs, they just seemed OK to me. There are lots of useless stuff, pitch shifters and the like. You may have fun with it for a while, but, really, it's just crap.
The amp simulations, the actual reason for which I bought this unit, are quite cool, especially the MARK and JCM800.The 6 way EQ (bass, mid, treble, bass-mid, presence, harmonics) is very responsive. I avoid those ultra-gain rectifier sounds, but I've heard some interesting dream theater sounds from it in some youtube videos. Noise is tolerable, and features a noise gate as well, but, as you know, at the cost of some sustain. The tuner should be your last resource, it's quite innacurate. The drum machine is a nice feature.

Now that's the problem with this dog turd. As soon as my warranty expired, this shit went all schizophrenic. Sometimes it gets irresponsive and I can't choose any path nor edit anything. Nothing works and I only get the sound of the patch the unit was left on last time I used it. Then, a few hours later, I switch it on again and everything is perfect. There's no way on earth I would gig with it. As a matter of fact, my buddha-like level of patience and love is the only thing that stands between the g2 and a sledgehammer.

I didn't get in touch with zoom, but I may, eventually. At least to tell them to fuck themselves all the way back to japan.

That would be a very nice unit for the sound and features, but, despite it's steel case, it's nothing but a lame, fragile chinese-made crappy toy. It has a line-out recording feature, but I neve even tried it. My tip for a not so lame yet cheap guitar tone is a solid state laney, crate, peavey or whatever combo with an EQ pedal. Stay away from digital gizmos (ok, maybe a POD) and you're safe.

Pretty easy to use, other than the limitation of a 2-digit LED display. I wish that the bank switches were larger for stage use; jumping from A2 to D9 is a bit of a pain. I wish it had a dedicated bypass switch: pressing both of the Up/Dpwm buttons accomplishes the same thing, but it's hard to do with one foot when standing up. I almost bought the A2.1u for that feature (plus the expression pedal), but I like the size of the A2, and DISLIKE to puny little expression pedal that the form factor allows. An extra switch for bypass is mandatory if this is your main/only effects box, in my opinion. The display is nice and bright, and easy to read.

The manual makes it easy to get at functions, but doesn't always display the nuances of some of the settings. The built-in tuner is a nice touch. I haven't found a use for the rhythm box yet.

One of the things that I really like is how fast the unit switches from patch to patch. On many multi-EFX boxes, there is a noticeable glitch when making changes. Not so on the G2: I can change patches during a ringing chord, and it sounds like I'm using an A/B box to go between amps.

I'm using this with an Fender Tele with Rio Grande pups, an electric 12-string, and occasionally, a Danelectro '59. All of these go directly to a Traynor YCS50 upgraded with a Celestion Gold. Thus, I'm not as concerened with the "tube tone" of the Zoom box as some players might be. I like the sound of the YCS50's clean channel way better than the drive channel, and the G2 allows me to get a good crunch without losing the great bottom end.

There are a pretty wide variety of Drive models, so clean or dirty, there's probably a sound that can start you off. I rarely record direct-to-board, so I have not played much with the cabinet simulations. The effects aren't especially imaginitive, but I would expect that most players buy this box to cover the standard bases, and this box does the trick. The Vox AC30 model turns my YCS30's clean channel (with 5881's) into a very passible copy of George Harrison circa 1965, and the JCM 800 model provides either a third alternative clean sound, or a nice rhythm crunch. The Peavey 5150 has good lead-tone roots, and the "Fender Twin" model can morph into a '59 Bassman with the drive on 100 and a little EQ. The Fuzz Face makes a pretty good approximation of Satisfaction, and the OD-1 is close enough for my needs.

The overall sound is very quiet, and I don't hear any noticeable tone drain compared to a direct-to-amp connection. The delay is good, the reverb a little less so.

What don't I like? Both the Marshall Plexi and Fender Tweed Deluxe models only seem to run from pretty-overdriven to very-overdriven; there is no way to get a clean tone, other then to turn my guitar WAY down. (I mean, even the 5150 cleans up better!) The Fender Twin, on the other hand, can't get very dirty at all. The adjustment of the Flanger and Chorus are pretty limited. The Wah tone will never replace my Clyde-modded Cry Baby.

It's got a metal case that looks pretty rugged. It feels "substantial." If an '80s MXR stomp box is a 10, this is probably about an 8.5 or so. I'm not sure about the footswitches: they LOOK like old-school on/off types, but they appear to be more like a ruggedized momentary switch. I would gig with it without a backup, but I'm something of a risk-taker by nature.

I haven't had to deal with Zoom (or Samson) Support yet.

The G2 gives me access to 95% of the sounds that I need for rock gigs. (My wah and the built-in spring reverb in the amp take care of the rest.) The sound is clean and natural, and the response to patch changes is phenomenal.

Much of my critique takes the cost into consideration: This is not a top-end multi-EFX box, and obviously some compromises have been made, but generally, $100 gets you ONE effects box these days, and the G2 covers the ground of 3-8 of them. Looking at it that way, it can't be beat. If it were lost or stolen, I would gladly pony up another $90 for a new one. I also have an A2 (acoustic guitar model), so the learning curve was shared.

I considered simlar boxes from Digitech, Korg, and Boss, but I liked the Zoom's size and metal body, which is hard to find in this price range.

Not the easiest multi-effector to use, but to make it any easier, it would have to be bigger..and I don't want that.

For $100, I'm very pleased. I use this unit for chorus, vibrato, tremelo, octave divider, and a tuner..basically to replace 5 separate pedals which would make my board unweildy..that I would only use on one tune each, respectively. It's inconspicuous on my board and covers almost every base that my Boss gt6 used to. I love it.

The stomp switches are starting to fail...they had to cut corners somewhere, and it's probably in this area. The exterior are nice looking metal switches, but I'm sure what's going on inside is corner cutting.

Overall satisfied with this product. Even if the switches fail, I'll fix them or buy another one for $100. I'd pay that much for each individual pedal.

You have to read the manual to fully understand the potential of this pedal!Once that's done it's pretty easy to get a good sound.The knobs are great to work with and the footswitch buttons seem like good quality.

I can get some great sounds with this pedal.The effects really sound quite good! Some sounds in there are not for me but the reverb - trem - phaser - and delays all are pleasing to my sound. The pitch harmonizer is a plus and it does it well. I even get a great blues distorted sound but I had to work at that one. Some people say it doesn't have one but you can find it in there.It took a few days for that. I wrote down my settings so I don't lose that sound! NO NOISE! that's what I love about this thing it's QUIET! I'm runnig it thru a modded EPI Valve Jr. This pedal made my amp sound great! I had a PodXT and it sounded so digital but this thing is warm and so much better to record with than my Pod which I sold on Flea-Bay.

No problems - seems well built

never needed them yet!

I play mostly blues and R&B. Been trying to play for 20 yrs. I use a tele and my Epi. I'm glad I bought this and if I needed another I do it again! This is one of the best deals out there.it's stereo output-4AA batteries for portability which is a nice feature.

I have owned several processor based effects units. The most recent being the Boss GT-8. This is WAY easier to use...not really much harder than a stomp box. You need to keep the manual handy to know what all the abreviations mean though. The only knock I have is the display...it is hard to tell what you are doing from two digits. Once you get where you want, tweaking is very easy. It is just the right amount of tweaks to make it your sound, but not overwhelming like some of the other processors.

I don't go for artist sounds, I go for my sound. I own a very nice all analog pedal board with Analogman, Barber Electronics and Fulltone pedals. It really sounds good. I find my self using this all the time instead of those. I originally bought this to record on the computer with, but started messing around with it directly into my amp. I have a 5-watt Valvetrain tube amp with only a tone control, 8" speaker and nothing else on the amp. This works great with any effects, since there is not a preamp per say, other than the tone control.

I get some great sound out of this thing. You need to send it to a tube amp...it really smooths out the sound. The secret to getting good sound was written a couple of reviews ago. Keep your settings at a minimum. Keep the gain on the amp modeling below 20. I keep mine below 10...normally use the Boss OD-1 and I get a GREAT blues tone...breaks up very nice. If you keep the settings on the amp modeling way up in the 50s, it really does not sound smooth.

The same applies to all the setting...I keep the compressor on but at "0". Very slight compression, but enough to even out the sound. Same goes for any of the modules...less is better.

Can't say...I have had other Zoom products last a long time...

Never had to deal with the company, so anything I told you here would be untrue.

I play in a church worship team and tour with a Christian singer/songwriter. This fits the bill perfectly for me. We not professionals, but good sound is important. I am very anal about the sound I have. I like tight distortion or overdrive...get into an occasional Santana sound, and lots of cleans. I can use this effect for any sound i am looking for. Remember, less on the gain and the settings will give you a better, smoother sound.

For $99, I like this much better than my Boss GT-8. It sounds better and provides just the right amount of tweaks to get my sound, but not require a college degree. Go out and get one...$99, I spend that much on a night on the town...

Moderately easy. About 15 - 30 minutes with manual, then it's easy and intuitive.

Excellent. Varies by effect, but generally, amazing how well it captures sound spot-on or very close to the original. I A B'ed it against original pedals and it nailed most of them.

Seems moderate. Wish they had a more robust version for a few shekles more.

Nice. Helpful.

Much better than POD-XT and easier to use. Excellent sounds: Auto-WAH, distortion, clean Fender. Will use it to play live, with added TC Nova delay. Generally, I've played with tube pre-amp (Groove Tube Trio). Play articulated style (e.g., Garcia) for 40 years. Picky about finding great tone. This is amazing IF you send output into a POWER amp and NOT a PreAmp.

The G2 is as easy to get a sound out of as any other multi effect unit.

Amazing for the price. The chorus, delay, tremelo, vibrato, auto wah that I use this unit for are as good as any stomp box that individually would cost this much.

Stomp switches are crap and are failing after having it for about a year. $99..you get what you pay for, I guess.

Excellent sound quality, lots of usable effects, crap stomp switches.

I've had this unit for about 6 months, and just wanted to post a little info based on my experimentations with it. As far as ease of use I'll give it a 9, as it's very easy to use for a effect in this price range, plus it gives you some real knobs to play with, and those knobs serve logical and easy to remember functions. It loses a point because you have to keep the manual around to remember what all the exact abbreviations are for. That's not a big deal though.

Here's what I really wanted to say... I first tried this unit into the front-end of both tube and solid state combo amps, and was not impressed. I was going to sell it. THEN.. I plugged this unit into a Behringer Keyboard amp (which is like a guitar amp, but with no built in pre-amp) and was in love. Duh. This unit only requires a clean power amp as it already is a preamp. When I used the combo guitar amps, the distortions on the G2 weren't very good. Straight into the keyboard amp, and all of the distortions are exceptional. I can get Megadeth tones, VH tones, Vai tones, etc... that are just fantastic. I'm really floored. So... never one to leave things alone, I then routed the keyboard amps output to a Celestion Greenback in a 1x12 and it just got better. So, even thought it's just a conglomeration of cheap stuff, I honestly have never had better tone in my life. Just in case you're wondering, I'm using a Behringer KT108 as the keyboard amp. It has some VTC (Virtual Tube Circuit) that seems to add a little warmth, but at 15 watts I can finally get cranked tube tone at home. The effects on this unit, the G2, are really good for the price. I mean, come on, a 5 second delay on a $99 effect, that's awesome. The reverb could be a little bit better, but so what, don't use them at 100%... more like 10% reverb is what you hear on records. Anyway, before you ditch this unit, run it straight into a good keyboard amp (take a little treble off the amp as they have full-range speakers), then make your decision. Used in this manner, this is an incredible deal.

I've used it alot over 6 months and it still works great. I'm very happy that Zoom put an on/off switch on this. They seem to care.

I've never dealt with Zoom customer service. But the place I got this from has always treated me well.

I really want a couple of good clean sounds, a couple of decent crunches, and a couple of good distortions so that I can play a variety of styles. I love Country tones, but I also love Heavy Metal tones. This one device has given me exactly what I want in terms of tone and feel, so I'm pretty happy. I think that if you used a more powerful keyboard amp, or maybe straight into a powered mixer, you could easily gig with these tones. I'm very pleased with it.

I'm only giving this pedal a 9 out of 10 because it takes a little getting used to. This isn't a bad thing at all. This pedal is worth the time it takes to get used to programming it. The fact that it has three knobs instead of the one that's on the cheaper ZOOM pedals makes it really easy to program once you're used to it.

I'm so happy I bought this pedal. For $99, which is the price of some distortions or chorus' ONLY, you get a ton of good useful stuff. I opted to get the one without the expression pedal because I made my own out of an old volume pedal so I can put it anywhere I want on the stage.
The effects in the G2 sound great. I wasn't happy with the flanger, but I made my own flanger sound with the vibrato voice with the speed at zero and the mix at less than half. Try it, it makes a pretty good flanger sound. I also liked hooking up the expression pedal to control the rate of some of the effects so you could ramp them up or down with your foot. The wah is also controlled with the expression pedal and the wah's in this pedal sound good, believe it or not. I like using the Vox Wah voice.
Something else I love that doesn't seem to be available on the lesser ZOOM models is the fact that you can virtually set the Phaser or Wah to be Before or After the distortion, just like in a real rig. I really appreciate that feature because I always liked my phaser and wah before my distortion so I didn't have to give that up in this pedal.
A lot of other people here have gone into more details about the pedal so I'm not going to waste my time doing that. I'm just here to convince you to give it a try. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

I've gigged with it and no problems yet. I doubt there will be.

I've contacted ZOOM before for about other products of theirs and they've been good enough to send me spare parts and manuals at no charge. Even on parts for some discontinued items.

I originally bought this pedal for using at some gigs where the stage is small and my normal 8 pedal chain doesn't fit very well. I normally use a BOSS Tuner that daisy-chains to power a Bad Dog Phaser into a DOD Milkbox Compressor into a CryBaby Classic into a Crossroads Distortion into a DOD FX75B Flanger into a Line 6 Space Chorus (that I swap the modules onstage to be a TapTremolo or a RotoMachine) into a Ernie Ball Volume ending with a Ibanez DE7 Delay/Echo. Whew.
Normally I don't have a problem having all of that in front of me, but I needed to shrink my rig for smaller gigs so I researched the G2 and it seemed like the trick and it is. Now all I need are the BOSS Tuner, the Milkbox Compressor (the G2 has a compressor but I prefer mine), a Voodoo Lab Micro Vibe (the only effect not in the G2), the G2 and a Volume pedal. Also the expression pedal.
I really like this pedal. Plus it's made of metal so it's sturdier than other ZOOM pedals. Try it.

Sound quality is very good except for reverb (decent) and cabinet simulation (although tone is good, you don't get "punch" like from real thing).

At first glance it looks reliable (metal and rubber), but then after a month or two micro-switch mini buttons starts failing. First was one under "patch down" foot switch, but after a year I had to repair most of them (didn't want send to shop because repair takes 30 minutes and sending takes box away for period of days or weeks). Thankfully it's easy operation, but nevertheless -2 for using cheap buttons.

I play mostly metal stuff, and it suits me very well. I have been using it for over a year now, and if it were stolen I would check before buying new one if there is something available without it's shortcomings but in this price and compactness class. Namely: more user programmable banks (well, I don't use all 40 of them, but I use groups like Ax for hifi/phones, Bx for bass patches, Cx for Laney amp, Dx for Line6 amp, and I'm out of banks regarding that I play on two or more amps in different places and this requires different settings; also you cannot insert or move groups so it's better to have spare placeholders around), "LOW inverted" option in CONTROL module ("LOW" lets you modulate effect from n% to 0, meaning that after engaging patch it starts from n%; inverted would start from 0% [yes, "UP" option works from 0 to n%, but n equals 100%, so it is different scale of adjustment]).
I also had Zoom GFX-707 and Digitech RP50, and G2 is way better (i.e. unnoticeable patch switching time and low noise level).

I wouldn't say this is the easiest unit to navigate. Yes, there's lots of flexibility built in. However, getting good sounds take time. You really have to understand the unit and how all the parameters interact with each other.

This is my main reason for writing the review. I'm using the G2 as a stomp box directly into the input of my Ampeg J12-R tube amp since it doesn't have an effects loop. At low volumes, the G2 sounded decent. But using it live was a different story. At gig volume, almost every amp module was either fizzy, mushy or very harsh. The cab sims were off, as the manual suggests, and I tried EQ-ing every which way I could think of. It didn't help. Then I got a tip off a forum that changed everything. I lowered the Gain in the amp modules to almost non-existant levels. Instead of 40-50 (out of 100) they're now between 0-15. What a difference! All models now sound tight, warm and alive without being harsh.

I've had a little problem with one of the bank button sticking, but it seems to have corrected itself.

n/a

For the money, this is a great unit. I've never used it for recording, so I can't comment there. Most people should be prepared for a learning curve, though, to really dial in their sound.

I reviewed this unit a few months ago and I loved it then and I love it now. I am submitting this "review" just to mention that this unit has a feature that many other fx/digital amp modelers dont have. The ability to TURN OFF the amp simulations. My amp already sounds great so why should I lay a digital emulation of some other amp on top of it. I use the G2 for all the nice effects it has, but I like to use it with the "amp" settings off. Oh, by the way, it lasts maybe 6 hrs on 4 new AA batteries.

The G2 has too many features to really drill down into for this review. Here's the simple, basic lowdown:
There are several effect suites-all accessible using a simple rotary knob in conjunction with three multi function (assignable parameter adjustments per suite) knobs to adjust effects for depth, time, etc. Scroll through the various suite parameters using two buttons. The patch select buttons are stomp-box types; one for patch up and the other for patch down-only one patch at a time, either up or down. Store button to save the patch. About 40 patch locations for user patches in 4 banks of 10.
Delay tap function and drum machine built in. Drum machine shuts down the reverb suite when actve. There is a jack for a footswitch that can be assigned to perform various, limited functions with a momentary switch or a CC pedal. No MIDI. Stereo or mono output. Sturdy construction. For the price paid and the physical dimensions of this unit (about the size of two BOSS pedals) this is the most feature laden box on the planet, at this time. Versatile in the extreme. New, FAST computer processor and very, very high quality sampling / processing speed.
Takes a while to get the hang of creating superb patches. Well worth the time spent experimenting to find your sounds.

In terms of achieving the sounds of various artists we know and love there are enough tools here to mimic any genre, style or artist. For example, using a Jay Turser Les Paul copy with Dream 180 pickups I can faithfully recreate anything from a wicked Telecaster clean tone for Surf and Oldies; early British Invasion jangly cleans; Cream/Hendrix/Zepplin-era overdrives/fuzztones/fat woman tones; hard rock ala Lynyrd Skynyrd / Santana / Ted Nugent / ; and modern Metal tones from 80s hair-band metal to Metallica / Creed / Shredmiester (Satch, Vai etc) artists and beyond. NuMetal / Death Metal-the VERY hard stuff....it's ALL in there somewhere and it all sounds good! I mean SURPRISINGLY good!
You can EQ any guitar to sound like many different guitars, provided you start with a decent, clear sounding set of pickups. As mentioned, my LP can mimic a Telecaster well enough to fool Brad Paisley.
Once again, it's just too deep to explain all the "sound" possibilities so here's the short version:
I have 3 Les Pauls...two Jay tursers (both have upgraded electronics and GOOD pickups) and a Gibson with 498T and 490R pickups. I have a modded Telecaster and an Ibanez S-series Fat Strat clone. They all like the box and the box likes 'em back.
My favorite amp models are: Fender Twin (called FC), the BOSS OD-1 (called od) Roland JC 120 (called JC) and the Peavey 5150 (called PV.) These model designations are reference points. You have to work the amp models to suit yourself. To work them you have a TON of EQ options, delays, modulation effects, pitch shifters that track VERY well, reverbs...you get the picture.
I run the G2 in two ways:
1. As a mono stomp box, using a Roland Blues Cube. Sounds killer! All EQ knobs on the Roland are set to 12 o'clock. I have 4 basic "live" patches: Super clean for jangle / surf / some blues. Clean with a bit of hair for blues / British Invasion stuff. Heavy overdrive for the Marshall Plexi-era tones / heavy bluesy stuff and a very heavy distortion for hard rock stuff . Charming, to say the least. Add a bit of delay, 'verb and chorus.
2. As a stereo processor through a Dynaco SCA-35 tube, integrated amp with 20 watts per channel through AR reference monitors. I have lots of patches using lots of amp models, drive levels, mod effects, pitch shifters, delays and more delays on top of delays. Sky is the limit in stereo. WooHoooo.

The stompbox / Roland amp thing works well for live shows. No worries.
The processor / Dynaco setup is more spacious sounding and takes full advantage of the formidable stereo effects.
So...very versatile box that works well with guitar amps or reference / home stereo amps & speakers. I even run this through a stereo boombox from Wal Mart and it works just fine for jams and composing. I don't like using headphones for guitar but you could.

Okay...for the rest: It's quiet, even at high gain settings. The effects are pretty darn good. Pitch shifters (there are several) track very well and sound unbelievably sweet in stereo...not as great in mono (duh!) but still quite useable. Drum machine is cheesy and one dimensional but it works and keeps accurate time. Believe it or not, we used it for a gig when our drummer couldn't make it. It got us through the night. I wouldn't recommend it...but I was glad we had SOMETHING for drums, which is better than nothing...y'know?

Looks pretty tough to me. Built from steel. Switches are right. No worries. I use batteries and DC adapter to run it. No wories.

I've been around guitars pretty seriously since the 80s. Like most players, I went through my woodshedding years. At this stage in my career I think i know what good sound is. I know good tone and good effects. This box is a winner.

The enclosed patches are pretty good and form a good basis for generating your own.

Editing patches seemed a little daunting at first but it's soon easy enough. I think it'll take a little while to learn what all the options are.

Manual is short and to the point, doesn't really need any more.

Through my amps this sounds good at room levels, haven't tried it loud yet.

The effects sound fine to my inexperienced ears, doesn't seem to generate any noise.

I use a Yamaha pacifica, and play through a home brewed Marshall 18 watt, driving celestion vintage and g12h30 speakers.

I find it a bit dead using headphones.

NO problems yet, had it a whole 24 hours so.....

NO problems yet, had it a whole 24 hours so.....

This is my first effects box of any type, I wanted a reverb but was also interested in experimenting with other types of effects and this seemed a cost effective way forward.
I've only been playing a few months so have a lot to learn regarding effects. Would I replace it, at the moment yes but would probably buy the G7 or G9, as I always like to move forwards.

Very friendly interface

Wonderful sound, imo.
I'm a novice so, no special needs. Just G2 and headphone.
I purchased Zoom G1 too.
I'm writing this not as a review, but as a resource to make
you all know the center frequency wich are boosted with the..
ehm the BOOSTER, selectable in the 2nd module of G2.
In fact, i wrote to ZoomJapan which kindly answer to my inquiry
in just one day. Should be nice to find this information in the
manual, but it's no.
so, here they are those center frequency

1: 100 Hz
2: 500 Hz
3: 800 Hz
4: 1.5 kHz
5: 3 kHz

Strong, made of steel.

Very good, they reply to my answer about the booster
in just one day since my e-mail was sent

Very very good.
Again, i don't really want to review this wonderful product
'cause i feel all has just been said about it.
I just would like to make you all know an information which
is not reported in the manual, about the frequency which are boosted
in the BOOSTER effect, 2nd module of G2.

Wonderful sound, imo.
I'm a novice so, no special needs. Just G2 and headphone.
I purchased Zoom G1 too.
I'm writing this not as a review, but as a resource to make
you all know the center frequency wich are boosted with the..
ehm the BOOSTER, selectable in the 2nd module of G2.
In fact, i wrote to ZoomJapan which kindly answer to my inquiry
in just one day. Should be nice to find this information in the
manual, but it's no.
so, here they are those center frequency

1: 100 Hz
2: 500 Hz
3: 800 Hz
4: 1.5 kHz
5: 3 kHz

This unit is fairly simple to use. The manual is very helpful and shows you exactly what each twist of a knob does. You have a limit of 40 patches to edit for yourself, alongside 40 preset patches which you can't edit. Very large variety of options for such a small unit and at such a low price.

I use either a Gibson SG Special Faded or a Dean Razorback with this, through a Line 6 Spider II. Starting with the clean tones, I tend to use either the Roland Jazz Chorus or the Fender Twin Reverb models. These both work well for either sparkly or warm clean tones, and if you like boosting the treble for a spanky, country style twang with a little grit. The Marshall JCM 800 model also provides a sort of dirty, sharp clean which is useful for the rock 'n roll clean tone.

As far as distortion and overdrive go, there are not many useable models in the Zoom G2. The overdrives are often either too thick and flabby (Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face and MATCHLESS Hot Box) or too thin and useless (Marshall JCM 800 and Boss OD-1). This is very disappointing, as it is hard to find a good classic rock tone or punk tone.

However the unit somewhat redeems itself with the distortion. I am partial to the Zoom Extreme Distortion for Dimebag's (Pantera) scooped sound. But when the mids come in it sounds a little too digital for my liking. The Peavey 5150, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier and ESPECIALLY the Marshall JCM 2000 are not very useful, as without the booster they are far too flabby and farty, whereas with the booster they have a lot of feedback and unwanted noise. Not to mention the fact that all of these models sound very digital. The JCM 2000 model disgusts me beyond belief. It's just UNUSABLE. Even with the bass turned down to -12 (yes, minus 12) and the booster in, the bottom end is chubby and annoying.

There are a few other effects which I don't use very often such as the Zoom Dynamic Fuzz, Marshall Guv'nor and Fender Tweed Deluxe which all sound okay as far as digital modelling goes, but do not often suit my needs.

Last but not least it the Mesa Boogie Mark III model. This is probably my favourite of all of the models on this unit. It has a warm, valve-like response which sings beautifully when driven hard, and a sweet trebley crunch when the gain levels are lower. Not so good for metal as I like to play, but nice for rock and punk.

The effects on this unit are quite good to my surprise, and work well with the better models on the pedal. The chorus and delay especially add together for a lush clean tone which I do enjoy, and the vibrato sometimes creates a nice surf or funk tone. I have used the vibrato for one tone which I do like, however, which is the clean sound from Pantera's 'Floods'. The noise reduction is good on this pedal, but when the booster is engaged it all gets a little too much for the ZNR, which means using the gate which I don't like (cuts off the sustain). The compressor/sustainer helps with sustaining distortion and the reverbs are pretty good, but echo perhaps just a little too long on most models.

This unit is very dependable. I've never had any problems with it, and I have gigged with it four or five times. Definitely a sturdy pedal.

For my main style of music, metal, this pedal is not brilliant. The best distortion available for metal on this pedal only sounds good when scooped, which is a disappointment. If it were stolen or lost I'd get another one because I'd use the effects on it (once I get a better amp, valve next time). I only wish that this thing had a more useable metal distortion model.

I had no problem, so if you're as smart as me you'll be fine.

I used this multi for a little while, but I have since removed it from my pedalboard. The thing about the G2 is that the effects are pretty good, it doubles as a tuner and replaces several single function boxes taking up less room. Unfortunately, the bypass is not true, and it sucks the life out of your tone if you're using a good tube amp. For me that's a 78 Fender Deluxe, a great amp with an excellent sparkly yet warm clean tone. Running the G2 in line basically takes away the sparkliness, which for me is really not a good thing. A lesser amp like a marshall or something probably wouldn't suffer but I'm not going to use this anymore.

I should also mention that it is a little bit noisy. But then again my telecaster is noisy and i've never complained about that.

If you're using a solid state or digital amp it should work well. They don't sound that good to start off with so you're not losing much. sorry but i'm just over pretending that solid state amps actually sound good.

It's well made, and doesn't look immediately breakable.

One of the reasons I still enjoy playing guitar is because i've invested in some real quality gear and can get an amazing sound. The G2 gives me some new effects to use, but decreases the fundamental richness of my sound, hence i've decided not to use it anymore. It would be a great pedal for beginners or those who are not using absurdly expensive equipment.
I'd actually reccomend it to some, but not all. It's a good pedal overall and it's inexpensive, so i'm still giving it a 7.

Muy muy facil de usar esta pedalera, y el manual explica todo muy bien. ademas que muchas pedaleras nisiquiera traen manual en espa??ol, y estas zoom nuevas lo traen. una vez que la tienes solo te toma poco tiempo entender el funcionamiento de la pedalera.

En la parte de las distorsiones le falta mas a esta pedalera, la cual a mi modo de ver suena muy digital en cuanto a distorsiones. estas suenan un poco filosas en amplificadores de transistores. sin embargo si tienes un buen amplificador esto te ayudara mucho. lo que si le encuentro bien a pesar de esto es que puedes hacer distorsiones con bastante gain.

Los acusticos suenan bastante bien, creo que esta es la parte mas fuerte de la G2, si te tomas un buen tiempo en hacer acusticos bien estilizados lograras muy buenos sonidos acusticos los cuales sonaran limpios y transparentes. estos acusticos suenan muy bien tambien cuando usas la pedalera en modo de (simulador de amplificador) y te conectas con audifonos (auriculares), o al conectarla directo a un equipo de sonido, a una PC o a una consola.

en cuanto a los efectos el Chorus, el Chorus Stereo, el delay, las reverbs, y el Phaser suenan bien, pero mas que todo los Chorus, con los cuales puedes colorear muy bien tus acusticos. de las Reverbs solo me gusta la Hall, y la uso en poca intensidad solo para dar color a mis acusticos.

los simuladores de amplificador son mas o menos, te sirven para gravar ideas en el PC, tocar directo a un equipo de sonido, a una consola, auriculartes, etc, pero no son lo suficientemente buenos como para hacer una gravacion profesional, y en cuanto a la parte de simulacion de amplificador la pedalera suena mejor en lo que respecta a acusticos. Si realmente deseas gravar algo semiprofesional o algo profesional directo a una PC no debes usar el G2, para eso esta el POD2.0 de Line6.

no opino.

no opino.

La pedalera brinda buenas posibilidades en cuanto a su costo, a pesar de ser economica no perderas tu dinero si la compras, pero lo malo es que no trae transformador de corriente y esto al comienzo me dio problemas por que cierto tipo de transformadores generan ruido al momento de tocar. el transformador tiene que ser de polaridad positiva pero con polo central negativo, si no es asi te generara un poco de ruido.

en cuanto a que usa pilas esta bien, si te compras unas 4 pilas AA recargables puedes tocar durante unas 6 o 7 horas seguidas sin problemas.

La encontre facil de usar, al primer momento que la usas tal ves te enrredas un poco pero ya en cuestion de pocos minutos se entiende muy bien el funcionamiento de la pedalera para hacer tus presets.

Las distorsiones suenan bastante digitales, es lo malo que le encontre a esta pedalera. en cuanto a cantidad de Gain, puedes hacer distorsiones con bastante distorsion. Estas suenan un poco asperas y filosas, por mas que ecualizes los bajos altos las distorsiones no dejan de perder el caracter filoso, en otras palabras les falta un poco de cuerpo.

He provado esta pedalera en amplificadores de transistores. Influye mucho el tipo de amplificador que uses, si tienes un buen amplificador puede que te suene bien. aunque solo la he provado en dos tipos de ampli Marshall y Crate de esos peque??os tuve mejores resultados con el Crate.

Normalmente la uso con auriculares (audifonos), y el 90% de mis presets tienen seleccionados la opcion de (Simulador de amplificador). Los simuladores de amplificador en realidad no son muy buenos pero si te sirven para tocar directo a una PC o con auriculares.

los limpios o acusticos: en esta parte la pedalera si tiene fuerza, puedes hacer exelentes acusticos que sonaran transparentes y nitidos siempre y cuando pases unas cuantas horas dandole premormance a tus presets acusticos. no es muy facil hacerlos buenos pero si te lo propones lo logras, esta pedalera tiene ciertas ma??as en la configuracion de los acusticos con lo cual tienes muchas opciones para provar acusticos simples o acusticos coloreados con Chorus, Reverb, etc.

En la parte de efectos me gusta como suenan los Chorus, tanto el normal como el estereo Chorus, el Phaser tambien anda bien, el Delay esta bastante aceptable, y las reverbs tambien. sin embargo algunos de los efectos adicionales de la pedalera simplemente suenan de juguete, pues esto es un contraste dentro de la pedalera por que le puedes encontrar buenos efectos y malos efectos.

en cuanto a sonido la pedalera se come un poco el tono de las guitarras, yo tengo una Legend Les Paul y una Legend tipo Strato, y un amigo mio tiene una Joe Satriani JS-100. la JS la provamos en la pedalera y resultado fue que la guitarra sono practicamente igual que la Legend Les Paul la cual es una guitarra economica que es una imitacion de las Les Paul.

la zoom G2 esta util para tener en casa pero no la veo como una pedalera para usar con una Banda, tampoco para gravar en estudio ni para gravar por linea directo a una PC. en todo caso para provar ideas pero no para gravacion profesional a exepcion de sus acusticos los cuales si me han parecido buenos.

en la parte de acusticos la pedalera se defiende muy bien. Tomando en cuenta que la G2 es economica pienso que no vote mi dinero, le he sacado algunos buenos sonidos.

A las distorsiones les falta calidad, suenan muy digitales.

Otra cosa que no me gusto es que estas pedaleras bienen sin transformador, tuve algunos problemas a la hora de conseguir el adaptador indicado.en algunos casos cierto tipo de transformadores pueden generar ruido a la hora de tocar.

Una ventaja de la pedalera es que puede usar 4 pilas AA, y puedes usarla unas 6 o 7 horas sin el transformador.

el Manual de la pedalera a mi parecer biene muy bien explicado y esta todo facil de entender echandole una simple leida.

i was looking for a good multi-effects pedal as i was becoming bored of only really having 'one' sound when using my marshall all valve amplifier 50w combo. i wanted a small multi-effects pedal though, i didnt want the typical large heavy awkward thing. i was reluctant though as ive always seen multi-effects pedals as the jack of all trades, but master of none. the zoom g2 is small so this is why i chose this model. it is also cheap to buy used on ebay so i felt there was no harm in giving it a try. im very glad i did. it takes some time to learn how to use the many features of this pedal, but the manual is good so it is not too difficult to learn all of the features.

i love this pedal but i think the sound rating really does depend on what amplifer you use! i am putting my zoom g2 through an all valve marshall 50w combo, so what happens is you have a digital pedal going through a valve/analog circuit. the sound from the pedal is going through 3 mullard preamp valves and then coming out of the two larger output valves. what does this mean? it means the digital sound from my zoom g2 is really fattened up going through my valve amp! you could say it is changed from digital to a more analog/valve/fatter sound, and due to this procedure it sounds GREAT! the distortion sounds i get from the zoom g2 sound much better than my marshall amplifier's built in distortion. it just sounds much clearer, more focused, less mushy and raspy, and has more life. if you put this pedal through some cheap basic digital aplifier though theres no way it's gonna sound as good as the sounds i am getting through my valve amplifier. sorry!

i would give the zoom g2 a 9 out of 10 when used with a decent valve amplifier, but if you use a crappy thin sounding weak digital amp maybe the sound is gonna be a 7 out of 10 in my opinion.

finally i get a huge range of sounds from a nice small compact multi-effects pedal, while still retaining my valve tone. i get a nice range of clean sounds, through to standard rock, overdrive, fuzz and hard rock sounds, and finally now also i can get really high gain huge sounding metal tones, which i could not achieve just using my basic marshall valve amplifier on its own. i can finally do the maiden/metallica thing properly (ie. a huge sound and plenty of bass in there too), so now im very happy!!

the pedal has many effects built in such as flanger, phaser, delay etc. i would say these effects are quite standard, dont expect absolute perfection here. the delay/echo i quite like. it's just good enough to warrant me sticking with it rather than having to use some analog or valve based echo/delay unit instead. the built in noise reduction is excellent, especially when using the high gain metal tones! there is a built in drum machine which is fun, but you have to use the preset patterns, you cant program your own beats (still good for jamming/practicing/metronome though). the built in tuner is very good but it is a pain to turn it on (you have to press and hold both footswitches at once at the same time, which is awkward). sustain from the pedal in general is excellent. i have never gotten so much sustain from any other pedal, and i've owned a lot. im really impressed here!

seems fine, it's tough and well built, solid feeling, weighty not cheap, with tough casing and rubber 'bumpers' on the side

the zoom website seems ok, but i have never asked for support so do not know how they rate on that, so i have no opinion here.

i think this is an excellent pedal. in the past i have had several different distortion and echo/delay pedals, as well as a noise reduction pedal before i bought this zoom g2 pedal, but now i sold all of the other pedals and only use the zoom g2 to do everything. im very happy and dont bother looking on ebay for effects pedals anymore as now i have everything i need here!

dont forget the important thing though. if you want it to sound really special, use a decent amplifier!! it might still sound ok with cheap equipment, i suppose it all depends on how fussy you are.

Yes, you do have to read the manual, but you'll catch on.

I can hear the analog qualities of the guitar strings better with this
unit than I could with either the Line6 pod or Damage Control womanizer
evidently due to the sampling frequency of 96 kHz. A previous reviewer
hit the nail on the head ... all amp sounds are good, but the Marshal,
Boogie, and Peavey models sound real good! The reverb and the EQ functionality is excellent. Good to very good clean, crunch, and distortion tones are achievable with the unit. Patience has to be applied, when using the flexibility of the EQ options, but the results are very satisfying. And for $100 you get many other effects, such as a very good tuner and a drum machine.

Looks reliable, but I have only had mine for 4 months.

I have never used their customer support.

Like I said earlier, the unit shapes the sound, but allows the analog string subtleties to shine through. It is the best $100 that I have ever spent on musical equipment.

After reading the excellent manual by 13 mins I was ready to use completely ; nothin bad to say bout it. as with the stompbox like controls it's really very easy to use

Although I rate this item with an 6 because I found the Dual rectifier , the MT-2 , Zoom Extreme's , and the Peavey's one very usable and it's sampling of 96Khz and 32 bits Proc. ; this thing has very major features that makes an owner of high input humbuckers like me dissapointed. this thing is not ready to handle such kind of high power humbuckers ; the emulations of JCM2000, Guv'nor, HotBox just SUCK !!, they all sound exaclty the same 4 me and have no use because those distortions sound just horrible; I play many styles but I wouldn't know how to use them (if you don't use the booster with them they just sound like a damn fuzz (unusable and horrible). and 4 getting an usable sound you always have to use the booster 4 the freqs the Humbuckers eats that way ya can't use other effects like the tremelo together with the distortions. The reason for the 5 points is that the usable models sound quite good once you have spent enough time tweaking them and you get no noise at all when you record even with the higher gain settings and also 4 the modulations.
but if it's gonna b your first multieffects, you'll be the happiest guitarist around your block.

Although with the usable sound you can record with good results
Im gonna sell it right now to buy a real effects processor like a POD XT. if there's not something better I would use it , maybe you can say your cables we're working bad...

Couldn't find in their site where to leave your questions like in other sites of other companies

I play rock , jazz , metal , Industrial and everything I want.
been playing by 8 years; own an old PS1 with Duncans.
I wouldn't buy this again. I hate that you have to use the booster to get something sounding acceptable. the favorite feature is that you can make it sound almost good everywhere.
I would buy an GNX1 instead of the G2. with other products in its range of price its acceptable.

Factory presets are pretty useless but that goes for every multi fx I've tried so far.

Don't fool yourself that this thing is going to replace a great sounding amp. It could have worked great for practicing and recording though if Zoom knew how to engineer things with life expectancy of more than a week (see below).

Ha! That's the reason why I am spending valuable time of my life to write a review about this P.O.S. To warn you my friend. One of the only two switches died within two days! Yes you read it right. TWO DAYS OF USE IN A NON SMOKING STUDIO ENVIRONMENT. Now, if that was a 60 switches 30 knobs complicated machine I would have understood it, but this is an as simple as it gets only two switches crapola. To last only a few hours...
Here is the best part. After I returned the unit I decided to not be very critical about Zoom and purchased a few months later the G1 model.
Ha! again. This one had a noise gate with phsycological problems. It was trying to refuse its exsistance as a noise gate and was trying to act as a volume pedal! It would give a volume swell effect even when it was set at 1!!! Never experienced anything like that with any other noise gate and believe me I have tried a few. Needless to say that the G1 went back to the shop too.

Yeah, right.....

Overall rating? Just save your money and buy something else. Actually just buy anything else but Zoom. As the text for rating mark 1 reads: What a hunk of junk!

I bought this unit to solve on problem. I play guitar and sing lead in a gigging band and I do not want to futz around with a bunch of pedals to get different tones and effects for different songs on stage, let alone setting it up. So for on-stage ease of use, I would rate this box an 8.5. Just get to your "home" bank, and switch back and forth with your feet. Easy.
As far as setting up and editing your banks, once you get over 15 - 20 minute learning curve (and RTFM), it's pretty easy to use.

If you have the ear and the patience to get the tone you want to get, I think you will be pleasantly surprised with what you can achieve with this box. If you already have a good sounding amp, go in with the attitude less is more. Use the modeling lightly or turn it off altogether. Use a bit of EQ. A touch of a chorus. A mid-boost in the beginning of the "chain". Go to the extended EQ. Back to the modeling tone parameter. The overall mix. It's all there, and it's all ganged together, and you can get the sound you want. It's actually alot of fun to do if you have the time.
The alternative use is as a the main tone-maker in your rig (you have a cheap amp and your gonna try spend a $100 to fix the sound.), or using the box to record to your computer. You CAN do this, but I have to drop the sound quality number down a bit. The modeling is adequate and not as good as Line 6 or Roland, and the more you rely on the modeling and EQ to MAKE your sound, the more your gonna hear the $100 band-aid.
For computer recording it's a very fun tool, and the cabinet/mike modeling is O.K. - good for noodling around, but not much more.

ADVICE:
-If your try this device in the store, realise that the sounds are examples of what can be done. Some are OK starting points, but you won't get the idea of the power until you go into edit, turn every effect OFF, and start from scratch. Ask to see the manual.

-The compression is AWFUL. Turn it off.

-There are 2 different settings for 'live' and 'recording'. Use the right one! Live settings opens up 3 more EQ bands, while recording is an cab/mike modeler.

I'd be lying if I said I thought this thing could take a beating. It's got a good weight to it, but I'm treating this thing with kid gloves for quite a bit.

I play in a band where I need to be able to go from a country-twang with a fat slap-back delay, to a mid-scooped metal sound, to a bachata lead dripping with chorus, and then back to MY AMP! sound with out a cumbersome and goofy pedalboard. Ok, maybe they're just not me, but I know when I see some dude setting up a huge pedal board with boutique pedals and vintage gear, he BETTER blow me away - and I know I'm NOT that kind of player! I like the footprint, the price, and there is a quality sound to be gotten with patience.

I recommend this product. If you can afford something (you think is)better, get it. If not, just know that your not throwing your money away. It's fun to experiment with guitar sounds. It's just a little more requisite with this product.

Pretty easy right out of the box, but...
If you really want to tweak and get the most out of this unit, you have to sit with the manual and hack at it. Editing is a bit of a trick, but attainable with patience & practice. The manual is NOT as user-friendly as (let's say) a Line 6 or Mesa Boogie or others. After going over the manual with my students & other players, we all agreed that we've seen better.

On one hand: this thing sounds pretty fat & massive with great parameters & relative "tweakability". The amp sounds and FX are admirable with a great sampling rate and 32-bit sound. But remember tubemeisters and tone freaks: it's still synthetic. This was purchased to add to a Crate Powerblock Head loop to provide extra tones & wet signals. Very quiet and has NR capability. All the FX are good for the most part, but don't expect TC Helicon or Lexicon sounds. Just know that the line out CAN handle headphones, 1/4" mono AND stereo Y-cords so you can use two amps/stereo recording: nice feature. BUT THE BYPASS IS NOT TOTALLY TRUE! There is a slight bit of smudge to it.

It's made well: solid metal & plastic casing with clickless switches. Seems better made than most pedals under $100.00. So good so far.

Zoom is overseen by Samson, and wit a pair of glasses on you can sleuth out their toll-free number. They answered and a pretty sharp tech answered my questions. But this is a Chinese company that could have hired some normal gear nuts from the USA to help make the manual's word-usage a bit more "real world" and less complicated.

Just another lazy old-timer who needed a small, well-made piece to add to a head that has no FX whatsoever. Playing for many years with a vast array of amps & rack gear. On the plus side: compact, feature filled & well made for the cost. Negatives: the manual just does not fully explain an E-Z route to tweaking & maximizing FX and boosting presence/EQ/tone shaping.

I know there are a few people out there who may be looking at this unit from the same perspective as me. I basically wanted a unit which handled all modulation and reverb effects, just to keep things simple and replace a whole lot of individual analogue boxes. I have what i believe to be the greatest OD ever, and yes i've tried them all.

I'm also using this thing as a kind of "poor man's" EH HOG/Whammy. The octave effect on this unit is really something. Also, the mono pitch shift effect actually sounds better that the octaver, but tracks SLIGHTLY less well. If you're into these effects, you absolutely must try this unit. It really blew me away how good these effects are.

The main reason i wanted a HOG or Whammy was for single octave up effects, similar to what Matt Bellamy from Muse has been using as of last year.

As a cheap substitute HOG it does the job very well. You only get 1 voice at a time but that's ok i only wanted 1 at a time. The big plus is that you get presets, in addition to a whole lot of other FX.

Actually it was mrmojo's review two below prompted me to write something about this unit.
Firstly I'd have to say i totally agree with him. I use the volume knob on my tele as pretty much the primary tone modifier while i'm playing.
I'm running from my guitar to an Ernie Ball VP, MI Audio Tube Zone Overdrive (best OD EVER!), Boss DD-20, Zoom G2, into my amazing 72 Fender Princeton Reverb.
Basically my idea was to replace a whole lot of pedals on my board. The G2 would cover modulation effects and reverb, and also give me a reasonable tuner. The effects themselves are really quite good. The only problem is that while this unit is in the chain, it pretty much destroys the 'natural' vibe that i get from my amp. The touch responsiveness and amazing sparkly shimmery Fendery goodness is gone. GONE!

If you don't play through a good tube amp, then really you can probably ignore my review.

Even with all effects switched off, this thing just colours the sound a little bit and makes it sound somewhat "not as good". I have considered buying a true bypass looper to use with it. As i mentioned, the sounds are really very good (especially the pitch shifter). Only problem is, most loopers are made by boutique makers, and the looper would cost as much as the Zoom!

I tried out the OD/distortions, they weren't to my liking, but then again i wasn't going to use them anyway and i'm comparing them to the best overdrive in the world! You may like them just try it out first.

It's metal with rubber bits. If i wanted to make myself more durable i would TOTALLY cover myself in metal with rubber bits.

It could be good. Dare someone to call them.

To those who are pretty careful about their sound: This is a great unit, the effects are very good, BUT your sound may get a little bit messed up. If you don't use your volume knob (you absolutely should btw you're missing out big time) you'll probably have less of a problem with this. Also if you use a tranny amp, it'll probably actually make your amp sound better so just go for it!

Pretty easy to use if you can read instructions. There is a section in the manual that shows how to make your own patches step by step. Its alot like the old zoom 505 processer but it has more control knobs.Someone on here said that it took three months to fully tweek the parameters in each effect. I could see that if you turned every effect/drive ect off and started with the first effect(compression) and worked your way to the end. The way to do it right is to start with the Drive Module then dynamic effects like compression/Eq/noise gate then reverb/delay then post amp modulation fx, wha/front of amp effects last. I wont go to far into ease of use because its pointless. If you can use a multi function remote for your tv you can use and program this pedal.

When i first got the pedal i pluged it into a crate xt 120 combo amp on clean chanel all eq's on 5.The first thing i noticed is that the preset levels were to loud.Even when i turned them way down they were still higher than they should be.Also the tones were muddy even when i adjusted the preset EQ...also the effects like reverb/delay sounded like they were all coliding together.I changed guitars from my homebuilt strat with a distortion pup to my epiphone LP standard with a REAL gibson 57 paf pup.This helped clear up the sound a little but the level was still to high and the effects like verb were sounding to lush-thick.What i found out is that when you plug a mono 1/4 inch jack into the STEREO 1/4" outpute, the ground of the jack dosent shut off the right side it causes the right side signal to go to the left or mono side increasing the level and blending the stereo effects.This sounds crapy. What you have to do is buy a stereo 1/4' jack that y's to two 1/4" female jacks and plug into the left if you want mono and plug into both if you want stereo into two different amps.
ZOOm should have pute in two rca outpute jacks and included a y cable to two 1/4" female ends if they wanted to save space on the unit.They dont tell you you CANT use a mono jack from the outpute but if you do the sound will suck.
As far as the sounds went...well its digital and you can easily tell just like every other modeler out there.When i got the first problem figured out i turned off all of the fx on a patch and turned on the PV drive (peavey 5150) added some eq and........was disapointed.It sounded like a muddy distortion pedal.I played this unit through the combo mentioned above a marshall dsl 2000 clean-rythm-poweramp, a crate powerblock, crate bv 120 clean-rythem-poweramp and it never sounded good at all. The best sound was through my crate xt120 combo but even that wasnt that great.Also if you use the outpute for headphones like it says you can, it wont be loud enough...not even with earbuds.

Havent had it long enough...had other zoom products that held up well and it looks solid so...

-na-

After i played this on my friends amps trying to get a good sound i came home, pluged into my crate on the lead chanel, and ohhh sweet analog distortion!!!! No the crate aint the greatest amp but it beats the digital crap anyday.No more amp modeling stuff for me unless its analog like the Tech 21 sans amp.I mainly bought this pedal to play around with as an addition to my combo and as a headphone amp but it failed at both.Oh well ill get my $99.00 back that will go to the eventual purchase of a peavey xxl.

Its fairly easy to use given it limited user interface.
Manual is easy to understand.

My setup: Fender standard strat, Morley Wah, Peavey Valveking 112.

I did not find this thing lending itself to my particular setup and needs.
I am very much into SRV type blues and as such really use and rely on the guitar volume (that is the volume control of the guitar) to get the right drive and tone from song to song from my tube amp. This thing only really sounds good when the guitar volume is at the full.
I bought solely to add some reverb and delay???now I know what you???re thinking???SRV did not use delay, but us mere mortals have to cheat a little. The point is, It still very much ???colored??? my tone to a very cold, edgy, digital sound even using nothing but the reverb effect. This, added to the extreme lose of dynamics when I cut back on the guitar volume makes it pretty unusable to a blues guy with a tube amp. I tried it in-line and through the effects loop, still had much the same results.
But I will say this for it???I ran it through and crappy realistic power amp and a 1-12 enclosure I keep around the house and it sounded pretty good. There is actually one patch (with some tweaking) that had a fairly good SRV dirty sound???think ???Tightrope???. It also had a somewhat better ???feel??? to it also when using the guitar volume. It seems to be much more suited to this type of application.
Patch changes are fast and seamless. The Boss DS-1 and the MT-2 are pretty closely reproduced. The rest, to my ear anyway, was not too good of a ???model???. They can be tweaked to sound pretty good as a sound in general, but do not live up to their namesakes.
I could go on boring you with the details???but I???ll Just give it a rating of 7???all things considered.

dont know...am gonna either send it back or trade it off after only two days of useing it...

Again...won't know